Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love.
V. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.
Let us pray. O God, Who didst instruct the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise, and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord.

Candy

Renee

Rosy

Molly

Emily

Shannon

moi

Grace

Mrs. N

Matthew Stuckey

Prayer of Those Suffering Miscarriage

My Lord, the baby is dead!
Why, my Lord—dare I ask why? It will not hear the whisper of the wind or see the beauty of its parents’ face—it will not see the beauty of Your creation or the flame of a sunrise. Why, my Lord?

“Why, My child—do you ask ‘why’? Well, I will tell you why.
You see, the child lives. Instead of the wind he hears the sound of angels singing before My throne.
Instead of the beauty that passes he sees everlasting Beauty—he sees My face.
He was created and lived a short time so the image of his parents imprinted on his face may stand before Me as their personal intercessor.
He knows secrets of heaven unknown to men on earth. He laughs with a special joy that only the innocent possess.

My ways are not the ways of man. I create for My Kingdom and each creature fills a place in that Kingdom that could not be filled by another.
He was created for My joy and his parents’ merits. He has never seen pain or sin. He has never felt hunger or pain. I breathed a soul into a seed, made it grow and called it forth.”

I am humbled before you, my Lord, for questioning Your wisdom, goodness, and love. I speak as a fool—forgive me. I acknowledge Your sovereign rights over life and death. I thank You for the life that began for so short a time to enjoy so long an Eternity. -- Mother M. Angelica

I'm a total book nerd. I read. I read boxes and packages, magazines and books, anything with words. So of course when my sister arrived for a visit complete with required summer reading, I devoured it in one day.The House of Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer, has garnered all sorts of awards, including the Newberry Medal. The book is sci-fi (for SF fans, it's juvie sci-fi lite. Sorry, John Wright, no Space Princesses here!) Set sometime in the future, when cloning and implanting chips in animals and people's brains is commonplace, Farmer explores the ethics of exploitation. It is not heavy handed, written for about 10-15 year olds.

The story follows Matteo Alacran, the clone of a notorious, and rich, druglord-cum-dictator as he grows up from a sheltered six year old boy to a fourteen year old manling. (Yes. I made that word up. Words that end in ling are cool in my nerdy bookworm opinion!) It touches on themes of humanity, cloning, pro-life themes such as destroying life (both pre- and post- born) for personal gain and therapeutic reasons, as well as the harmful effects of drug use and reasons why one might get addicted. Noticeably absent are steamy love scenes, four letter words, and throwaway trashy women. Catholicism provides a cultural background and source for the morality, but it's not a catechism or theological exercise.

I was reminded of Orson Scott Card's best work, Ender's Game, although Farmer does not quite have his gift of characterization and the ending was anticlimactic and a little trite. I do recommend it as supplementary high school reading and modern fiction, however.